There is plenty of paranoia among Seattle Mariners fans about an East coast/anti Pacific Northwest bias within the professional sports media. As such, anytime their ball club is included in anything positive, it results in a surprised reaction — case in point being a recent article from The Athletic.
Former Cincinnati Reds general manager Jim Bowden published an article for The Athletic (subscription required), revealing 12 breakout candidates he is excited to scout in spring training. Among others, this included Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo, who was ranked at number five.
Again, this was met with surprise by some, and not just because someone in the mainstream national sports media had made a positive connection to the Mariners. Of more relevance, you can make the case that Woo had already broken out for his club based on last season.
Bryan Woo excelled in 2024 for the Mariners
The Oakland, California native had shown some intriguing potential during his rookie campaign in 2023, but it couldn't have prepared anyone for what was to come last year. After overcoming some injury issues early on, he went on to pitch so well that he was arguably the Mariners' best starter by season's end.
Now we will take into account that Woo had the fewest starts and overall innings pitched by the regular rotation with 22, but this still doesn't really take anything away from what he achieved overall. Consider that out of the five main starters, he was best with a .750 win-loss percentage, 2.89 ERA, 127 ERA+ and 1.0 walks per nine innings.
Additionally, the 25-year-old was second with a phenomenal 0.898 WHIP. (He also had a 3.40 FIP, which was third-best.) Simply put, this was all extremely impressive, considering it is in comparison to some excellent company in Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Bryce Miller.
The point being is that if Woo's considerable improvement from his rookie year doesn't constitute a breakout season, then what does? Well, in fairness to Bowden, who was named Major League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News in 1999, people can have different interpretations of what a breakout season means to them.
For some context, Bowden advised his list of 12 players came after reaching out recently to all 30 Major League clubs, to learn who their organization's evaluators think are the top candidates to take their games to the next level this coming season. A breakout season to him means someone who plays well beyond expectations and/or past performance.
The thing is, if we move past what we qualify as a breakout season and just consider Bowden's perspective specifically, this is potentially very exciting for the Mariners and their fans. If Woo is going to pitch even better in 2025 — and as long as he can remain healthy — then he can conceivably end up being one of the elite pitchers in the Majors, and not just with Seattle.
Mariners' Bryan Woo has an impressive array of pitches
The 2021 sixth-round draft pick has two top-tier fastballs, while Bowden compliments his throwing arsenal in general, save for needing to tighten up his hard slider. The Athletic columnist said, "Expanding the strike zone instead of always living in it, would enable him to reach another level and get more outs in two-strike counts."
For what it's worth, Woo is one of only three pitchers included on the list of 12 breakout candidates, with the Mariners righty also ranking highest out of the trio. However you look at it, Bowden's analysis should be extremely encouraging for Seattle fans, at a time when there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm due to an uninspiring offseason.
Plenty of people wonder if it will be possible for the Mariners rotation to repeat last season's feats, when they ranked first in the Majors with a 3.38 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 185 walks and a .222 batting average. However, if Woo does indeed excel as Bowden predicts — as well as the repeated need to remain healthy all year — the M's pitching has every chance of once again being among the best in baseball.
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